JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is leading the charge of attorneys general from 23 states to get Congress to put national concealed-carry reciprocity legislation into place.

Those attorneys general sent a letter to Congress asking representatives to support two specific acts.

"We share a strong interest in the protection of our citizens' Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms, and we are committed to supporting federal and state policies to preserve that constitutional right," the attorneys general wrote to Congress. "These bills, if enacted, would eliminate significant obstacles to the exercise of the right to keep and bear arms for millions of Americans in every state."

The national legislation would let law-abiding citizens carry concealed weapons in states they don't live in -- which some states prohibit.

"States should not be able to deny citizens of the United States the basic constitutional right to self-defense," Hawley said. "Missouri has chosen to respect the rights of residents and non-residents to carry arms for self-defense. I ask Congress to protect these same rights for law-abiding Missourians as they travel throughout the United States."